A week ago, Rome was burning, or at least the Maple Leafs were in freefall, candidates were openly lobbying for John Ferguson’s job, Richard Peddie was saying all kinds of silly things and major organizational change seemed imminent.

Then came a credible performance in a shootout loss to Montreal, followed by a solid victory in Atlanta and an impressive triumph against the struggling Pittsburgh Penguins on home ice Saturday night.

So can the alarm be turned off now? Or should it never have been turned on in the first place?

“I don’t know if there’s anything specific at the moment. I’ve told teams we need to get healthy. We’ve said all along that it would be nice to have another forward who can score goals. But there doesn’t seem to be that person available right now. We’re just trying to find out what is out there.”

Murray said the answers mostly have to come from within.

“I’m not sure that trades do very much,” said Murray. “You may scare a person. You may eliminate a person or two from your lineup. I think we have a pretty good hockey team. You don’t want to make a change just for the sake of making a change. If that’s what it takes to stimulate this group, then I’d be pretty disappointed.

“We’ve got a good group here. We’ve obviously gotten away from our game. We’ve got too many guys worried about statistics rather than winning.”

Kelly and Lindros talked about all sorts of issues with the game, and since the story was more of a feature on the two of them trying to help the NHLPA regroup, there was not room for their views on a lot of important topics. So here is some what we talked about. It is a lot to digest, but there is some pretty good stuff in here.

ON THE CURRENT STATE OF THE GAME

KELLY: We like the game played at a high rate of speed. We like to see good, close games whether they are 2-1, 3-2 or 8-7. I don’t know that the volume of goals is really the issue. We want to see good, clean, competitive, fast play.

The Blues, who play the Flames on Tuesday and the Oilers on Friday, are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and playing some of the best hockey in the league right now.

“We, as a team, feel we can play with anybody,” Blues president John Davidson told The Canadian Press on Monday. “And we should feel that way. Last year we were just hoping to survive and stay in the hunt as long as we could. This year it’s different.”

The 15-8-1 Blues sit fourth in the tightly contested Western Conference, making a major statement two months into the season after missing the playoffs two straight years.

“And we’re going to be around for a long time,” said Davidson. “We’ve got eight players 24 and younger. So we’re going in the right direction. We feel good about the way we play the game, we feel good about the way we’re committed. Our team is well prepared.”

The NHL requested and received a sneak peek of MVP, a salacious prime-time soap about the lives of hockey players, which premieres Jan. 18 on CBC.

“While it certainly could be interpreted not to cast professional hockey players in the most positive light, I also understand that it’s fiction,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly wrote to CBC in an e-mail.

“And I have enough faith in the Canadian public to see it as such. The CBC understood why we’d want to see a copy.”

...Avery denied making the comments and his lawyers served libel notices against the Fan and the Toronto Star over the matter. Berger voiced the 46-second retraction that aired Monday.

“It was my intention only to report accurately on what transpired during the pre-game warmup,” said Berger. “Based on Mr. Avery’s clear statement that he made no such remarks, my information and therefore my reporting does not appear to have been accurate.

“I truly regret reporting that Mr. Avery made any such comments. I apologize to Mr. Avery for having done so. And I hereby retract my comments about what transpired during the pre-game warmup on Nov. 10, 2007.”

update 8:22pm, Avery was just interviewed on MSG, said he is not done with this subject. He doesn’t feel any better than he did before the statement read by Berger today and said the media cannot hide behind a pen and get away with it. He plans to continue his fight on this topic.

Lachey hosted the official Company American Bistro grand opening after party at LAX Nightclub. Also making LAX Nightclub their party destination of choice was Leggat, comedian Russell Peters and NHL center Peter Forsberg.

Nashville forward Scott Nichol has been suspended for five games for cross-checking Montreal’s Patrice Brisebois in the head in the Predators’ win over the Canadiens on Saturday night.

‘‘The crosscheck by Mr. Nichol to the head area of his opponent was reckless and dangerous,’’ said Colin Campbell, NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations. ‘‘Although no serious injury resulted,the action is unacceptable.’‘

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